Belasco's Redemption
by Lauren Wagner
Summary: Universe X; how does Belasco deal with who he is? COMPLETED
1. Default Chapter

Author's Note: Universe X; I will not pretend to understand half the stuff that happened in that, and I probably never WILL understand what happened in that. All I know is that Belasco turned out to really be Nightcrawler...and that he was very sad when he found that out. Weep for Belasco, people.  
  
*** His eyes watered slowly as he watched Scott overlooking the new X-men's training. They were laughing, acting like it was all just a game, and maybe it was. Looking up slightly, he saw Magneto walking over.  
  
"There...There." He whispered. "Magneto is an ally now. A hero. A [i]friend[/i]. You've succeeded in [i]redeeming[/i] him, X-men, as you have almost [i]all[/i] your enemies. Magneto... The Brotherhood... Unus... Juggernaut... Sauron. You saved them [i]all[/i]."  
  
He leaned forward slowly and he shifted his feet slightly on the tree branch he was crouching on. He as up in a high tree, hoping that he was hidden from their view. Raising up his one arm, he took hold of a strong branch overhead.  
  
He had five slender fingers but they were bound tightly together in two pairs. He wanted to try and remember what it was like only having two fingers and a thumb.  
  
"You saved them [i]all[/i]." He repeated softly, his tail swaying side to side. "But what of a [i]friend's[/i] redemption? Why haven't you redeemed [i]me[/i]? What about [i]Kurt Wagner[/i]?"  
  
Scott looked up at the trees and he narrowed his eyes as there was a sparkle of light in the trees. He walked over and at first he saw nothing up in the trees. Then he saw something glittering on the ground. Bending down, he picked up a golden coin.  
  
"What is it?" Charmer asked. Rolling the coin from finger to finger slowly, Scott recognized it finally when he saw a small hole in it.  
  
"A coin from Belasco's necklace." He said. "He was just here."  
  
"Why?" Dogface asked, placing his hands on his hips. Scott sighed softly, placing the coin in his pocket.  
  
"Trying to find the courage to come forward." ***  
It had taken Belasco two weeks to build up enough courage to go and see how the X-men were. A few times he told himself no and that it was useless. He had finally just closed his eyes and cast a teleportation spell, sending him into the forest near the training area.  
  
He just wanted to see how they were. ***  
When the child Mar-vell showed him those images...telling him he was not Belasco but Kurt Wagner... How could he believe him? He had been filled with such rage that he wanted to prove Mar-vell wrong by going to the place where he first appeared to see if the body was there.  
  
"I am the bane of Dante! The [i]chosen[/i] of the Elder Gods." He snarled to himself as he fought with his one arm through the thick vines and cables.  
  
"Do they think they can fool me?! Idiots!" Closing his eyes tightly, he pulled as hard as he could on the last pile of cords and vines, sending ice and metal shards everywhere.  
  
When he opened his eyes, he was staring at the real Belasco, a human frozen in solid ice with a sword raised over his head.  
  
Falling to his knees, he wept. ***  
When he finally got control of himself; Loki had succeeded in talking Creel into becoming Vibranium and going into the Earth's core to save it in New York City; but he didn't know that and he didn't really care either.  
  
Getting to his feet slowly, Belasco wiped his eyes and he looked at the frozen body standing in front of him, showing that the great liar had been lied to himself.  
  
Slowly, he picked up a heavy metal pipe and he started to smash on the frozen body, ice shards flying all over along with the body. He finally stopped when it was completely destroyed; nothing but a pile of ice at his feet.  
  
Dropping the bar, he closed his eyes and mumbled a teleportation spell, going to just any place but there. ***  
He spent two weeks among the mutated people, a spell surrounding him to make him look like a man who resembled a dolphin that had the body of man with lone long fin that had been shredded. He used this as an excuse when he asked a woman to tie up his wounded fin, watching as she tied his fingers into the two pairs.  
  
Then he went to go and see the X-men. ***  
When he reappeared after nearly getting caught by Scott, he was in a clearing.  
  
"Idiot." He whispered, sitting down and banging his head a bit with his fist. "What was I thinking by going back there? There was just no point!" Growling softly, he ran his hand through his hair, which had started to grow again since he stopped having it shortened.  
  
He sat like that for a while until he finally noticed that the winds had gotten stronger behind him. Opening his eyes and lifting his head up, Belasco watched as Ororo landed a few feet away from him, her blue eyes glittering with pity.  
  
"Kurt..."  
  
"Leave me alone, witch." He whispered softly, looking away.  
  
"Kurt, Scott knows you were over at the school before. He told me to go and find you and bring you back." Ororo said.  
  
"What for?" Belasco demanded, standing up slowly. "To fight me? I don't think so."  
  
"Kurt..."  
  
"Stop calling me that!" he screamed, closing his eyes tightly against the tears.  
  
"You know that's your name." Ororo said. "That's why your hand is tied up the way it is. You know you're Kurt Wagner!"  
  
"But I don't deserve to be called by that name anymore." He said softly.  
  
"Kurt..."  
  
"I have to be redeemed first." He said weakly. "And I can't do it by myself, Ororo. I just can't"  
  
"We can help you." He looked up at her slowly, his tail curling up slightly in such a way that Ororo couldn't help but see the old Kurt in him.  
  
"Can you?" he asked. When she nodded, he looked away for a moment, his tail swaying side to side slowly. Finally, he turned back to her and he nodded grimly, holding out his hand to her.  
  
"All right." He said, taking her hand in his. With his tail, he sketched the rune that would take them back, and in a flash of light they were gone. ***  
They couldn't have appeared at a worse time.  
  
Colossus had returned and was talking with Scott about everything that had happened when Belasco and Ororo appeared from behind. Colossus looked over his shoulder and in a flash was in metal form, cursing in Russian as he raised up a fist at Belasco.  
  
"Wait!" Ororo shouted.  
  
Belasco stood where he was and took the blow as it shattered his cheekbone, sending him flying a few feet before a tree stopped him. He sat up slowly before Colossus kicked him in the stomach, making him double over in pain as he coughed up blood.  
  
The abuse went on for a while, Belasco wasn't sure as fist after fist came down on him, shattering bones and such. When Colossus was finally held back, Belasco had finally fallen into blissful nothingness. ***  
Belasco's dreams were filled with the evil he had done. Most of them had to do with Illyana, Jimaine, and his slave; an alternate version of Nightcrawler. He was teaching Illyana the Arcane arts one minute, and beating his slave the other. In another scene, he was tormenting a disguised Jimaine in a cage.  
  
The dreams always made him scream until his voice was sore, and his voice had only healed up three days ago.  
  
He woke with a start, and he immediately regretted it as pain lanced down his body, making him let out a weak scream.  
  
"Don't move too much." Hank warned gently. "Piotr caused a lot of damage to your body before we could pull him away from you. We were worried a few times that we would lose you."  
  
"How bad is it?" Belasco asked slowly.  
  
"Oh you've been out for five weeks." Hank said.  
  
"Five weeks!" Belasco repeated, his eyes growing wide in surprise.  
  
"Indeed." Hank nodded, adjusting his spectacles. "During that time most of your wounds have been healing quite nicely actually. The pain you feel now should be over in another day or two. Then you'll be able to walk around again."  
  
"What happened to Colossus?" Belasco asked.  
  
"He's calmed down a bit." Hank said. "We did find him in here once with his hands around your throat trying to strangle you...but we dealt with that."  
  
"Don't make him try to accept me." Belasco said. "That won't give me redemption. I need him to forgive me willingly."  
  
"Yes, Ororo told me that you wanted that." Hank said. "Kurt..."  
  
"Belasco."  
  
"[i]Belasco[/i] then. What do you think will constitute you being redeemed and able to call yourself Kurt again?" he asked, looking at him a bit sadly. Belasco bit his bottom lip slightly, looking down a little.  
  
"Until I have been forgiven by every person I have wronged." He said. "Then I will be redeemed and worthy of being Nightcrawler again." Hank rested a hand on his arm lightly, smiling at him faintly.  
  
"If it's any good to you," he said, "Ororo, Scott, and I have all ready forgiven you for what you have done." Belasco sighed softly, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, his tail that was hanging over the side of the bed swaying lazily from side to side as if he was a cat sunning itself on a windowsill.  
  
"Three down." He said. "A lot more to go." 


	2. 2

When all of Belasco's wounds had healed properly, Scott had shown him to a room that they had made up for him. When he first looked at it, he was a bit upset, tears falling as he found himself staring at old movie posters of Errol Flynn, his old rapiers hanging over his bed, and his collection of pirate novels on a book shelf beside old swashbuckling videos. Apparently, they had saved all of his old things, even when it was believed that he was dead.  
  
Even though these old reminders of his life before surrounded him, Belasco stayed in his room, never leaving it for anything, save relieving himself. He kept his door closed at all times, not letting anyone into it.  
  
The others tried to make him eat; Hank and Ororo alternately left plates of food and glasses of water in front of his door. Belasco would open the door slightly, take one look at the food, and then close his door again, leaving it out there until someone would find it cold and take it away.  
  
Belasco was fasting to an extreme. Mar-vell had told him that Mephisto had chosen him because he had kept his faith throughout all the hardships in his life, making the devil look bad; so Belasco turned back to the faith that he had once held so dear.  
  
He prayed, using his old rosary in his one hand constantly. Sometimes he didn't even sleep, his praying taking over his life at that time.  
  
Sometimes, he fell under a swoon, flashes coming to him like a dream.  
  
[i]He was running as fast as he could, his remaining hand clamped tightly over the bleeding stub of what had once been his right arm. A mob was chasing him, screaming and tossing rocks after him because he was a human.  
  
He didn't even know how it had happened.  
  
All he knew was that he had become human after teleporting away from being turned into stone. He had stumbled around in the street, blood pouring everywhere and when he saw someone, he asked them to help him with his wound.  
  
He had asked for help from Mr. Church, the man who would turn out to be Mephisto in disguise.  
  
Mr. Church had shouted to a mob to kill the human, and that was when he found himself running once again from a murderous mob.  
  
Only this time it wasn't because he was a mutant, it was because he [i]wasn't[/i] a mutant instead.  
  
He tripped.  
  
He found himself with his back to a wall, too weak to do anything but beg in German for them to leave him alone or help him with his wound. Mr. Church was standing behind the mob, shouting at them to kill the human.  
  
He was stoned. He could feel the heavy rocks pounding down on his weak body, smashing his head and chest badly. When the mob finally left him, he was covered in blood, his vision going in and out; and he prayed in his mind that God would take him now.  
  
He got Mephisto instead.[/i]  
  
When the swoon had ended, he had burst into tears, covering his eyes and shaking his head slowly. ***  
Enough was enough.  
  
The others were worried that Belasco would end up starving himself to death, and Ororo and her husband T'Challa decided that they would be the ones to end his fasting with some force.  
  
They had opened the door, and when Belasco asked them to leave, they refused, saying that he needed to eat something.  
  
"I can't." Belasco had said, shaking his head seriously. His cheeks were sunken in, and the bones in his tail were starting to become visible.  
  
"I am sorry, my friend." T'Challa said, grabbing Belasco tightly by the arm and forcing him onto his feet. "But you need to eat something, and we [i]will[/i] force you to eat if we have to!"  
  
Belasco fought them weakly, his tail flicking side to side. Ororo and T'Challa easily overpowered him and forced him out of his room, heading for the kitchens.  
  
"We're sorry about this, my friend." Ororo said. "But you can't starve yourself like this!"  
  
"Leave me be, Ororo!" Belasco said. "Just let me go back into my room!"  
  
Hank was waiting by a table with a bowl of vegetable soup beside him. When Belasco was forced into a chair, Hank calmly stirred the soup and held out a spoonful as T'Challa forced Belasco's mouth open.  
  
They force fed Belasco the first bowl of soup before he finally gave up and agreed to eat the second without any further problems.  
  
"You can't stay locked up in your room anymore, Belasco." Hank said. "It's not healthy and it won't do you any good."  
  
"What should I do then?" Belasco asked, looking up at him.  
  
"You can still fence, yes?" T'Challa asked. "You can teach students how to use the sword. Maybe gymnastics if you're still able to."  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Belasco asked.  
  
"Do you really think that starving yourself will get you redemption, Belasco?" Ororo asked gently. Belasco looked at the ground, his tail curling around his ankles.  
  
"No." he admitted softly.  
  
"Then take our offer." Hank said. "None of this fasting yourself to death business!"  
  
He did. ***  
Despite his one arm, Belasco still was as agile as when he was Nightcrawler with both arms.  
  
He had his old attire burned except for his gold bracelets and his coin necklace. He gave these to Ororo as payment for staying there. He found that his old friends had saved a lot of old things, and that included all of his former life's clothes.  
  
He was wearing an old pair of white sweatpants and tank top complete with a red headband while he worked out. Hank and the Hulk had set up training rings for him and his gymnastics class. He was seen there often, bringing up old memories as he twisted and spun in mid-air.  
  
Crouching in the middle of the center ring, Belasco kicked off with his legs with his arm held out. Grabbing a bar, he swung in a complete circle and went half way around for the next, stopping at the top. He stayed perfectly still, slowly spreading his legs out in a split as his tail stayed wrapped around his waist. Slowly, he brought his legs together, his toes pointing up at the ceiling.  
  
Swiftly he swung forward and let go, performing five somersaults as he headed for the ground. He landed in a crouch a few seconds before he would be smashed on the ground. His tail unwrapped itself and flicked to one side as he stood up slowly and took off his headband.  
  
He looked over his shoulder when he heard someone clapping.  
  
"Even with one arm you can perform as if you had two." Piotr said, leaning in the doorway. "Just like the old Nightcrawler I once knew." He added.  
  
Belasco was silent.  
  
"Why did you come here?" Piotr asked, slowly walking towards him. "Did you think that every one of us would forgive you for what you did? Did you think it would be that simple?"  
  
He looked away, his tail curling around one leg slowly.  
  
"Stop doing that!" Piotr shouted suddenly, making him flinch. "Stop doing things that Kurt used to do! You are not Kurt! You're the son of a bitch who always tried to hurt my sister through all of the alternate realities! You're the one who even enslaved a version of Kurt after slaughtering all the other X-men of that reality!" Slowly, Belasco made his tail uncurl itself and simply relax.  
  
"I know what I did." He said softly. "I didn't think that anyone would forgive me so easily." He added. He backed up as Piotr got closed, turning into metal instantly.  
  
"Why don't you leave this place?" Piotr demanded, jabbing a finger in Belasco's narrow chest. "You're not welcome here, Belasco! Go back to Limbo where you belong!"  
  
"I would gladly go back there." Belasco said. "I still must ask forgiveness from Jimaine and my former slave, but I cannot do that until I have completed my business on this world. If you wish to strike me again then do so and don't dawdle about it."  
  
Piotr looked like he wanted nothing better than to do just that, but he held himself back, stepping back and turning into flesh once more.  
  
"I will never forgive you for the things you have done, Belasco." He growled, his eyes narrowed. "Never!"  
  
Belasco watched Piotr walk away sadly, his tail curling around one leg slowly. ***  
It was a week later when the child Mar-vell came to the school.  
  
Belasco was resting under a tree outside, his head tilted upwards as he let the warmth of the sun wash over his face. His tail was curled around his ankles, the spade thumping the ground lazily in contentment.  
  
"You know that you cannot stay here."  
  
Opening his eyes, Belasco lowered his head but he did not look over his shoulder at the person who spoke to him. Unwrapping his tail, he tapped the ground beside him slowly before he wrapped it around his ankle once more. When Mar-vell sat down beside him, Belasco looked out at the clouds in the sky.  
  
"I know that." He said finally. "But I cannot leave until..."  
  
"Kurt, you know that Piotr will never forgive you." Mar-vell said gently. "The only reason why you are staying here is because you are afraid of going back to Limbo. You are afraid that Jimaine, Illyana, and your former slave will kill you if you come to them."  
  
"That's not it entirely..."  
  
"Yes, it is." Mar-vell said. "You're scared to face them. You are afraid of their rejection more than anyone else's." Sighing, Belasco shook his head a bit, bowing his head.  
  
"What is it that you're asking me to do?" he asked. "Are you asking me to go there and confront them now?"  
  
"That is exactly what I am telling you to do." Mar-vell nodded.  
  
"But for what purpose should I go there now? Why can it not wait a little while longer?" Belasco asked.  
  
"You know why." Mar-vell said gently. "If they do forgive you, then the rewards will be great for you."  
  
"And if they do not?" Belasco asked, cocking an eyebrow as his tail thumped the ground a bit.  
  
"That is not what you should be worrying about." Mar-vell pointed out gently. "You knew that your redemption would not come so easily. Why expect their forgiveness to be?"  
  
"I know." Belasco sighed, looking away sadly. "I just..."  
  
"Wanted to stay here for a while longer?" Mar-vell offered. Belasco nodded, hugging his knees to his chest slowly.  
  
"Kurt used to love it here." He said. "Kurt would come here often and just sit underneath this very tree to pray or just think about things. He even taught some of his German classes out here... He was happy here."  
  
"Then help him come out." Mar-vell said. "Go to Limbo and confront the three you wronged so often in the alternate realities." Belasco nodded slightly, getting to his feet.  
  
"Where should I make the portal to go there?" he asked.  
  
"Any place where no one will walk into it on accident." Mar-vell explained. Nodding a bit, Belasco walked into the woods, his tail swaying lazily. ***  
He drew a large pentagram in the ground with a stick, mumbling softly the incantation that would make it the portal to Limbo. When the pentagram was completed, he cut his hand on a sharp stone and dripped blood on each points of the pentagram, starting to finish up the rest of the spell.  
  
The pentagram began to glow as yellow as the sun, and the light became more intense by the second. Spreading his arm out, Belasco tilted his head back and shouted out the final words as light enveloped his body.  
  
He was gone in another flash, the pentagram sizzling on the forest ground. 


	3. 3

Belasco appeared in the lower pits where the lesser demons resided. Most of them were small, prone to little innocent pranks rather than all out evil acts the stronger and bigger demons were known for. A few of them looked at him and squealed in fear, running away as fast as their little legs could carry them.  
  
Watching most of them run from the sight of him, Belasco sighed softly and shook his head a bit, looking around to where he was exactly in the lower pits. Raising up his hand, he made a few gestures with his taped up fingers and a minor teleportation portal was opened and he stepped into it, making it seal up behind him. ***  
Belasco's former slave Nightcrawler was beside one of the only clean and clear pools in Limbo drinking deeply of the cool and crisp water. Taking out his head from the water, he shook his head, spraying water all over before he paused and looked into the water. He was crouching down, his tail swaying side to side as he stared at his reflection as it wavered gently before him.  
  
He used to be so handsome in his world's reality. He used to look like that one Nightcrawler from the world...what was it called now? Oh yes, Earth 616. He used to look like that Nightcrawler, with high cheekbones and European features that made him one of the best looking members of his X- men.  
  
That was all gone now. His face was no longer as handsome as it was had been, his fangs longer and sharper and his hair wild and uncombed. He couldn't stand upright any more either. He walked stooped over only when he really wanted to be on two feet. Most of the time he just went on all four legs like an animal. Even his hands were misshapen with his first finger longer and more twisted than the other.  
  
In disgust he slapped the water with his tail, making his image waver and disappear.  
  
He was just disgusting now! Even Jimaine and the Illyana from Earth 616 didn't want to look at him! Every time he got anywhere near them they would chase him away, shouting at him angrily. Sometimes they even cast spells at him, leaving wounds and sores on his legs and tail from running while they fired at him. No one wanted to have to look at him anymore. Not when they could beat him and chase him away like a stray dog or cat.  
  
He even still wore his golden necklace, the ornate thing that Belasco had made him wear around his neck as a sign that he was his slave.  
  
Well...not [i]everyone[/i]. Nightcrawler had made friends with most of the lesser demons, and even a few of the moderate ones were friends. They were the only ones who were actually nice to him, and it made him feel good when he was around them, his only friends in Limbo.  
  
Looking up, he narrowed his eyes as Illyana headed right for him. She would want to take a bath then, and the slave of Belasco was not welcome around these pools anyway. They were much too clean for the likes of him.  
  
Without waiting for her to cast a spell at him, Nightcrawler teleported away. ***  
Jimaine was at the castle, weaving protection spells when she sensed a teleportation spell being used in the lower pits. She stopped and narrowed her eyes slightly, concentrating on the area. When another spell was used to leave the lower pits, she knew that it wasn't a lesser demon experimenting with spells.  
  
It was someone skilled with Black Magic.  
  
Walking up to a mirror, Jimaine ran the tips of her fingers over the glass, making it become smoky. The mist swirled around slowly and started to glow a deep crimson before it spread apart and showed Belasco walking down the tunnels of Limbo, heading towards the castle as he looked around.  
  
"Damn it!" she hissed. "How did he get back here?" Swiftly she ripped open a portal and stepped into it, sending Illyana a mental warning about Belasco. ***  
Belasco actually felt lost. Looking around, he raised his eyebrows slightly. Illyana and Jimaine had really changed some things around in here! He wasn't even sure if he was going in the right direction or not.  
  
The pain spell hit him without any warning.  
  
Screaming, he fell to his knees, arching his back as it felt like hot metal was being pressed into the small of his back. Gritting his teeth, Belasco looked up at Illyana as she pressed the Soulsword against his throat.  
  
"It was a huge mistake coming here, Belasco!" Jimaine said from behind. "You must have lost your mind if you thought that we wouldn't sense you using so many teleportation spells!"  
  
"I wasn't trying to hide from you." Belasco said, careful of the Soulsword. "I was looking for you so that we could talk." He flinched as Illyana flicked the blade and clipped off a top of his ear.  
  
"You're a liar and a murderer, Belasco." She said. "Why should we believe that you came here only to talk?"  
  
"And where are your fancy clothes?" Jimaine asked. "You look like you went and bought your clothes at a garage sale!"  
  
"I didn't come here to fight either one of you." Belasco said slowly. "I came here to talk and ask for your forgiveness." He cried out when Illyana cut the corner of his mouth deeply. She was about to take his head off, when he dove to the left, barely missing getting hit with a fireball from Jimaine.  
  
"I know that I've caused you and your alternate selves a lot of grief!" he said, casting a protection spell around himself. "And I realize that you both probably despise me deeply and I can't really blame you for that can I?"  
  
Belasco dodged all of their attacks as best as he could, getting minor cuts on his face and arms as Illyana swung her Soulsword at him.  
  
"But I want you to know that even though I cannot go back in time and change the things that I have done, I am sorry. More sorry than you can ever know." His back smashed up against a stonewall as Jimaine cast an Aero spell, sending strong winds at him.  
  
Illyana Soulsword sank into his side, making him cry out. When she withdrew it, she raised it up and was about to finish it when he whispered a spell that sent the two as far away from him as possible.  
  
Pressing his fist into the wound, Belasco ran as fast as he could, knowing that the two would catch up to him eventually. ***  
It was about ten minutes later when Belasco finally stopped running and fell to the ground, panting as blood flowed through his fingers. Gritting his teeth, he removed his fist and looked at the wound. Spitting on the palm of his wound, he mumbled a few words and he pressed it on the wound, making a minor seal to stop and blood and make the skin start to heal.  
  
"That went better than I expected it would." He sighed, shaking his head faintly. Lifting up his head, he tilted it to one side and listened as he heard voices nearby. His tail swished slowly and he stood up, walking over silently to see who was talking. ***  
Nightcrawler was with a few of the lesser demons, laughing and watching as they wrestled with each other, talking in their choppy tongue. One of them was named Micah; a lesser demon with large eyes that were bigger than his head that glittered like glass. Micah had a small beak sharp beak and a tiny blue-feathered body with one large birdlike foot that it would hop around on.  
  
Micah hopped up and landed in Nightcrawler's lap, pecking at his necklace lightly.  
  
"Is shiny!" Micah said. "Micah like play with shiny things! Micah play with 'Crawler's shiny?" Laughing softly, Nightcrawler took off his necklace and he held it out to Micah, watching as the lesser demon's eyes lit up as it took it in its small beak.  
  
"Don't forget to give it back now." Nightcrawler said, watching as Micah hopped down and started to toss the necklace in the air, playing with it like a puppy will with a rubber ball. He laughed softly, shaking his head as he watched Micah and the other demons play with his golden necklace.  
  
"You kept that necklace... After everything that has happened to you; you kept it."  
  
Nightcrawler cringed at the sound of his master's voice and when he turned around, he crouched in on himself, his tail tucking in between his legs in defense.  
  
"Master..."  
  
"No." Belasco said, shaking his head as he knelt down beside him. "You don't have to call me that anymore. I am not your master." Nightcrawler looked at Belasco in confusion, his tail thumping the ground lightly as he tried to figure him out. Was it a test of some sort?  
  
He crouched down lower, keeping his head lower than Belasco's.  
  
"Are you angry at me, master?" he asked. He flinched when Belasco cupped his chin in his hand, but his fear became nothing but pure confusion when Belasco made him lift his head higher than his own.  
  
"You're not the one who should be asking that." Belasco said gently. "And I am not your master. What I did to you was wrong. You are not my slave, Nightcrawler."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Nightcrawler asked. "Is this a test of my loyalty?"  
  
"How can I expect you to stay loyal to me after all of the things I have done to you?" Belasco asked, shaking his head slowly. "No, I am not testing you this time. I am being very serious."  
  
Nightcrawler slapped him with his tail as hard as he could before he got up.  
  
"You did this to me!" he screamed. "Why are you being nice to me now? For all these years you've been cruel and heartless with me! You beat me so often and left me disfigured! You slaughtered all of my friends and left me wounded and close to death before you did this to me!  
  
"Why are you changing now, master? Why do you have to do this to me now? Why can't you just come back and be evil and cruel to me like you always were? Why can't you just leave well enough alone! Don't do this to me! Not now! Not after all of these years!"  
  
"I understand your anger." Belasco said softly. "I..."  
  
"Then just beat me and yell at me and leave me be!" Nightcrawler said. "Don't try to confuse me now with this sudden change of heart!" Tears were starting to come to his eyes, falling down his cheeks slowly. Crouching down, Nightcrawler wept softly, pressing his hands on either side of his face.  
  
Belasco looked at him sadly, understanding where he was coming from. He had heard that Toad and Magneto had gone through the same problem when Magneto showed kindness to Toad and made him into an equal. Toad had not been able to deal with it, and Sentinel City was nearly destroyed by his rage.  
  
Gently, he rested the tips of his fingers on Nightcrawler's brow, and he whispered a spell, rubbing them in a circle.  
  
When Nightcrawler opened his eyes, he blinked and looked at his hands in surprise. They were at their proper length again. Touching his face, Kurt found that it was no longer hideous and misshapen anymore.  
  
"Your will is free again." Belasco said. "You're not under my control anymore." Looking at Belasco, Nightcrawler started to sob and he rested his head over his heart in a weak hug. Belasco hugged him back with his one arm, sighing softly as he rubbed his back.  
  
He had ruined Nightcrawler's life, and he wasn't sure if he was being forgiven or not through this hug. All he knew was that there was no way that Illyana and Jimaine would be forgiving him. He couldn't leave Nightcrawler here either, his mind was too weak and upset about everything that had happened.  
  
His eyes started to burn, and Belasco found that he too was weeping.  
  
The End 


End file.
